Understanding Whistler's Techniques

What did James McNeill Whistler put in his mysterious sauce? How many brushes did he use to paint one scene? Go behind the scenes in Tate’s Paintings Conservation Studio and discover more about Whistler’s ever-changing techniques.

Whistler mixed a variety of pigments, turpentine (paint thinner) and oil to make his famous ‘sauce’, which was the medium he painted with.

While he kept the 'ingredients' of this sauce a secret, scientific analysis of the painting surface has shown which pigments he used, and revealed that he most likely mixed in large quantities of turpentine and a dash of oil to get the sauce to his desired consistency.

To test this hypothesis, Paintings Conservator Rachel Scott recreated the sauce and tested it out to see if it matched the drips she had seen in his portrait of Miss May Alexander.

Most paintings from this era have a layer of varnish over them, which is usually a clear layer of resin that protects the surface and can intensify the colours in the painting.

Varnish can degrade over time, changing the way a painting looks, but removing old varnish is a complex and delicate process. Whistler was very particular about his varnishes, and would sometimes have works revarnished or retouched to achieve the look he wanted.

Through conservation records and lab analysis, Rachel Scott has identified that some of the varnish retouching on the painting of Miss May Alexander was not made by Whistler himself. In this video, she uses a new method to remove layers of yellowed old varnish to reveal the original colours hiding beneath.